Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-06-22
sswINe-woMEN's WAGES.
The Low Wages PAD by Clothing Manu-.
Eacfn-era Iarcn CItIes-

The Low Wages Paid by Clothing Manu-
factu=ers In Large Cities.
ayes, we have been cut down shame
fully in the past four or five years, and I
am not able to make q living alone now"
said an old la iy that lives in tho fifth floor
OF Third street tenement house to q
Cincinnati Tfmss reporter the other morn
ing. She has been making pants and
vests for wholesale cloihiers here for
fifteen years, as she has been n widow for
q mum Der of years and by hard wo, TX has
succeeded ia raising three daughters and
two sons.
"You still work at the busiuess" askel
the reporter.
''Oh, yes, Tor get along better than
used 10, as my girls are now old enough to
help me, but IL hal to do it alone, as
did when we were paid more, would be
swamped. No one Of US oould make liv-
ing now, but it costs no more TO keep us
now than formerly, and the four Of Us
make, and manage to get along very we'll Z"
"What prices are you getting nowr"
'Herc are some pants" and the old lady
with locks that have long since told the
story OF LIES winter by their whiteness,
handed the writer pair Of jeans pants Of
the cheapest quality, shat am maxim G
for one dollar dozen, or eight AMI one
third cents apiece"
allow many pairs OF these can you make
in q day by working ten hoursi"
mot more than thrce pairs to save my
soul, and you can readily SEQ that no fami-
~ like mine could exist on twenty-five
cents a day. But want to be fair with
you. When was young l expect / could
make five or six pairs IL worked as fast
as could and did nothing else, but in
those days / got g 30 and So dozen for
the same work. Now my three girls and
myself, by denying them every priv
ilege OF going out and all OF Us living as
slaves we are able to mako about SIC a
week. as we turn out about $50 pairs, or
twelve dozen, every Saturday night"
''Are these the lowest pr,cos you know
OFF,
"No, know Of a woman that Is making
about She same quality of work as this
and is only getting ninety cents for q
dozen pairs"
different firms may vary IN pricesP'
eyes, thoy do There Is all tho differ
enco ia the world In the hrn one works
for. Nsw, know OF some that will find
fault with overy thing, and win put of
paying their sewing women as long as
possible. Why, / know OF one firm that
would not allow the women that worked
for them TO entor their store at The public
entrance. Now, Just come out fiat
footed and told him that IL l wasn't good
enough to walk in the Same door other
people did wasn't good enough to sew
on his pants."
AIN which Is there the most money
coats, pants or vests"
~ can do better with pants Vests
would do very well il 1t was not for the
button-holes TO make in them. But coats,
there is mighty little in them l tell you.
There Is a good deal of work to make
coHtS. How people can sow them for q
dollar q dozon can't understand"
"Don't tho manufacturers pay according
10 tho amount Of workf'
''No, they seem to pay according to the
qEality OF the goods, but they require just
as good and as much work on the cheap
goods as on the more expensivo"
Then prices are getting lower all the
Gmep'
'TYos, for work that we used to get s.,
e. IS, S25J and s. we now get from 81 cents
to $L7a